1STRINGS(1) GNU Development Tools STRINGS(1)
2
6 strings - print the sequences of printable characters in files
7
9 strings [-afovV] [-min-len]
10 [-n min-len] [--bytes=min-len]
11 [-t radix] [--radix=radix]
12 [-e encoding] [--encoding=encoding]
13 [-] [--all] [--print-file-name]
14 [-T bfdname] [--target=bfdname]
15 [-w] [--include-all-whitespace]
16 [-s] [--output-separatorsep_string]
17 [--help] [--version] file...
18
20 For each file given, GNU strings prints the printable character
21 sequences that are at least 4 characters long (or the number given with
22 the options below) and are followed by an unprintable character.
23 Depending upon how the strings program was configured it will default
25 to either displaying all the printable sequences that it can find in
26 each file, or only those sequences that are in loadable, initialized
27 data sections. If the file type is unrecognizable, or if strings is
28 reading from stdin then it will always display all of the printable
29 sequences that it can find.
30 For backwards compatibility any file that occurs after a command-line
32 option of just - will also be scanned in full, regardless of the
33 presence of any -d option.
34 strings is mainly useful for determining the contents of non-text
36 files.
37
39 -a
40 --all
41 - Scan the whole file, regardless of what sections it contains or
42 whether those sections are loaded or initialized. Normally this is
43 the default behaviour, but strings can be configured so that the -d
44 is the default instead.
45 The - option is position dependent and forces strings to perform
47 full scans of any file that is mentioned after the - on the command
48 line, even if the -d option has been specified.
49 -d
51 --data
52 Only print strings from initialized, loaded data sections in the
53 file. This may reduce the amount of garbage in the output, but it
54 also exposes the strings program to any security flaws that may be
55 present in the BFD library used to scan and load sections. Strings
56 can be configured so that this option is the default behaviour. In
57 such cases the -a option can be used to avoid using the BFD library
58 and instead just print all of the strings found in the file.
59 -f
61 --print-file-name
62 Print the name of the file before each string.
63 --help
65 Print a summary of the program usage on the standard output and
66 exit.
67 -min-len
69 -n min-len
70 --bytes=min-len
71 Print sequences of characters that are at least min-len characters
72 long, instead of the default 4.
73 -o Like -t o. Some other versions of strings have -o act like -t d
75 instead. Since we can not be compatible with both ways, we simply
76 chose one.
77 -t radix
79 --radix=radix
80 Print the offset within the file before each string. The single
81 character argument specifies the radix of the offset---o for octal,
82 x for hexadecimal, or d for decimal.
83 -e encoding
85 --encoding=encoding
86 Select the character encoding of the strings that are to be found.
87 Possible values for encoding are: s = single-7-bit-byte characters
88 (ASCII, ISO 8859, etc., default), S = single-8-bit-byte characters,
89 b = 16-bit bigendian, l = 16-bit littleendian, B = 32-bit
90 bigendian, L = 32-bit littleendian. Useful for finding wide
91 character strings. (l and b apply to, for example, Unicode
92 UTF-16/UCS-2 encodings).
93 -T bfdname
95 --target=bfdname
96 Specify an object code format other than your system's default
97 format.
98 -v
100 -V
101 --version
102 Print the program version number on the standard output and exit.
103 -w
105 --include-all-whitespace
106 By default tab and space characters are included in the strings
107 that are displayed, but other whitespace characters, such a
108 newlines and carriage returns, are not. The -w option changes this
109 so that all whitespace characters are considered to be part of a
110 string.
111 -s
113 --output-separator
114 By default, output strings are delimited by a new-line. This option
115 allows you to supply any string to be used as the output record
116 separator. Useful with --include-all-whitespace where strings may
117 contain new-lines internally.
118 @file
120 Read command-line options from file. The options read are inserted
121 in place of the original @file option. If file does not exist, or
122 cannot be read, then the option will be treated literally, and not
123 removed.
124 Options in file are separated by whitespace. A whitespace
126 character may be included in an option by surrounding the entire
127 option in either single or double quotes. Any character (including
128 a backslash) may be included by prefixing the character to be
129 included with a backslash. The file may itself contain additional
130 @file options; any such options will be processed recursively.
131
133 ar(1), nm(1), objdump(1), ranlib(1), readelf(1) and the Info entries
134 for binutils.
135
137 Copyright (c) 1991-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
138 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
140 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
141 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
142 Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
143 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
144 Free Documentation License".
145binutils-2.35 2020-07-24 STRINGS(1)